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SMU Eliminates ECU From C-USA Men's Tennis Championships
April 21, 2006
TULSA, Okla. - The SMU Mustangs, ranked No. 35 nationally, used the doubles point and three singles wins to roll to a 4-0 victory over East Carolina and eliminate the Pirates from the 2006 Conference USA Men's Tennis Championships Friday night at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center. The second-seeded Mustangs (17-7) advance to Saturday's semifinal round where they face No. 3 Tulsa. ECU, seeded seventh in tourney play, completes its season at 8-14. SMU opened the match by taking the doubles point with wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions. David Kuczer and Alex Skrypko teamed up to knock off Ricardo Barone and Aleksey Kochetov 8-5 in a first-flight meeting while Federico Murgier and Henrik Soderberg clinched the tally with an 8-3 triumph over Mike Catalano and Henrique Viana at the No. 3 slot. Skrypko, currently ranked as the nation's No. 48 singles player, fought off a challenge by ECU's Kochetov at No. 1 with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 win to clinch the match for the Mustangs. Skrypko's tally followed Soderberg's 6-4, 6-1 win over Brian Walters at No. 5 and Yevgen Ryeznik's 6-3, 6-3 defeat of Catalano in a No. 6 matchup Since tournament format policy dictates the stoppage of play once a team clinches its fourth point, the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 matches featuring Viana, Barone and Nick Rose were discontinued. No. 2 SMU 4, No. 7 EAST CAROLINA 0
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